


The Downfallian Guardsaman

by Someone_Else_But_Me



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventure/Action, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:07:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25786363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Someone_Else_But_Me/pseuds/Someone_Else_But_Me
Summary: Repost from Fanfiction. Original author-meFollow Ernest Div's story as he tries to save his city from the inevitable death.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Author's corner:  
> My work from Fanfiction site. Now I can post some images...  
> I wanted to find out, if I can write a story on English language. That's how 'Reh'Ctiw...' was 'born'.  
> WARNIG: The text might contain some grammar issues. I'm trying to write it as good as I can, but these mistakes are inevitable. Especially for a man, whose native language is not English.

Orange circle appeared on the ground. At first, it was small dot, but every second it grew larger, until it became two meters wide. Then, the circle began to sparkle. The sparking lasted for another couple of minutes, and then, the circle threw out two objects. First object, black and silver box, flew several meters and then landed on a ground. The second one, a black figure, grabbed a tree branch in flight, thereby interrupting its flight. The Figure was now hanging on a tree branch. Orange circle started narrowing, and, a few seconds later, completely disappeared. The figure carefully descended from the branch.

 **_This black figure was none other than our protagonist, Ernest_ ** **_Div_ ** **.**

 _'It's too dark, I need a light'_ Ernest thought as he pulled the flashlight from the pocket of his black trench coat. He then turned the flashlight on, and looked around. Flashlight's light fell on a crimson-red crown of a tree. ' _I'm in a crimson forest. That means I'm not far from that big city. But which way should I go to get to that city?'._

Ernest scratched his head. Then, an idea came to his mind. Ernest approached the crimson tree. "Maybe if I climb this tree I can find my way from there to the city?"-Ernest wondered aloud. "Yes, sounds like a plan"

After a couple minutes of climbing, Ernest was standing on a top branch. He looked in front of him "Let's see… as far as my flashlight can shine I see only trees. That's not what I'm looking for." Ernest turned his head to the right "Hmm, there's something glows in the distance. A tower. That means I'm not too far from a city" He then turned around. "Walls and buildings behind them. A fort? No, too big for a fort. What if… a city behind a wall? What kind of devilry lives in this forest, from which people erected a wall around a city? Either way, I know which direction I have to go now."-Ernest said to himself as he climbed off a tree.

As he jumped off the lowest branch to the ground, he realized something. "Briefcase!" Ernest gasped "Where is my briefcase?". He spun around, flashlight in his hand. The briefcase was very important to Ernest, because it contained… Err… let's just say, that Ernest's very life depended on it. Eventually, flashlight's light fell on a black and silver box. Ernest went to the briefcase and inspected it. "From the outside, it looks undamaged. But what about the case's 'insides'".

The briefcase was locked with a six-digit password. Ernest entered password and briefcase locks clicked. He then opened the case and looked inside. "Seems fine, all wires connected to whatever they should be connected, no sparks or something."

Ernest closed the briefcase, and entered password again. Locks clicked. Ernest pulled the suitcase lid a couple of times, just to make sure that it was locked, and, satisfied with the result, picked up a briefcase and marched towards the city.


	2. Misadventure №1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR'S CORNER:
> 
> I got rid of the most of grammar issues. I guess...
> 
> So, I have a few things to tell you
> 
> Firstly, the next chapters will be divided into three acts
> 
> Secondly, you RWBY fans already know about monsters, technology and other things, but Ernest aren't. So, we'll learn with him.
> 
> I guess that's it. Have fun.

'Exegi Monumentum, huh?'-thoughts

"This is the cutest dog I've ever seen"-direct speech or 'thinking aloud'

Misadventure №1: This forest is cursed and I'm not alone here

_ACT I_

_Place: Independent city of Downfall_

_Time: Five years prior Ernest's arrival…_

In a couple of hours, almost every citizen of Downfall learned about this. Newspapers, radio, television- all sources trumped about this event. Alexander Div was rushing home to share the news with his son.

Alexander walked quickly to the entrance to his house. When he opened the door, he waved to the old lady who looked out of the window of the first-floor apartment. Upon entering the house, Alexander turned right, and then, at the end of the corridor, turned left on the stairs. After a couple of flights, he went up to the third floor, and he walked up to the black door. Metal inside, but upholstered with the fabric on the outside, this door did not allow any outsiders to enter the apartment where the father and son lived.

From his pants pocket, Alexander took out a bunch of keys, picked the right one, and put it in the keyhole. Two turns of the key, and the door was now unlocked. Alexander pushed the door and entered the apartment.

"Ernest! Wake up, we've got trouble!" Alexander shouted as he took off his leather cap and putting it on the table.

The apartment was quite spacious, and consisted of two rooms. The first was the «Main Room», which combined the kitchen, dining room, and living room. The second was the bedroom.

On the couch, under the blanket, was Ernest. 'Thirteen hours and thirty-two minutes. He usually does not sleep at this time. Probably tired in the service' Alexander thought.

Alexander walked to sleeping Ernest and gently pushed him in the shoulder. "Ernest. Ernest, wake up."

Ernest opened his eyes, and reluctantly got up from the bed and sat down. "Father? What is it, what's going on?" Ernest asked in a sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes.

"Here, look" Alexander handed his son a newspaper, which he held in his hand all the time.

Ernest took the newspaper. It was a fresh issue of the «Uprise». At the top of the page in large black letters was written "Citizens, to arms!". This phrase alone alerted Ernest, but he continued to read.

'Today, at seven-thirty A.M. Downfall Time, the Sanctum's government have declared war on our city. Fierce battles are already underway.'

Below was a black-and-white photo with a crying woman waving a handkerchief at a young man in a black coat, a helmet and a rifle on his shoulder, climbing into a large car.

Ernest took his eyes off the paper and looked at his father. He was already sitting at the table with a glass of water and a pill in his hand. Alexander puts the pill in his mouth and sank it with water. «Have the gods abandoned us? » Asked Alexander at Ernest, a heavy sigh. «Oh, what a terrible time we live in»

_ACT II_

_Place: Crimson Forest_

_Time: Five hours after Ernest's arrival_

"A-a-and I came here. Again" Ernest sighed. 'When I was on that tree, I thought that I will arrive in a city in no time. How wrong I was, oh gods, how wrong I was.'

Ernest was wandering the forest for a long time. The dark, moonless night had already receded, the sun was beginning to come out of the horizon, and Ernest was still walking down the forest trails, trying to find his way to the city behind the wall. At first, he was led by a forest path. Then, at the place of the path, there were already bushes, and Ernest, convinced that the city was ahead, began to work his way through them. Eventually, he ended up in a clearing he's been trying to climb out of for a very long time.

'This forest is playing tricks on me. Feels like it doesn't want to let me go'

Even though it was dawn, there was complete silence in the forest. Even the howls of wind were not heard. It felt like the forest was completely empty.

Ernest walked up to the tree lying in the middle of the clearing, sat on it and placed the briefcase on his knees.

'Finally, now I can rest' Ernest sighed with relief 'I need to take a break for a minute or two, and I'll be ready to continue my travelling'

Ernest had many questions on his mind. 'Why is there a wall around the city? How do I get out of the forest? What has this brave new world prepared for me?' Who would have thought that soon he will know the answer to all three questions?

_Around 30 minutes later_

Ernest got up and stretched out

'Alright, it's time to go. It's already daylight, and I still haven't made it out of the forest.' Ernest took the briefcase in his left hand, and, with his right hand, he had fixed the holster hanging on his belt.

Suddenly, Ernest heard gunshots. A loud sound, sounding like a whip strike sounded close by. Downfallian was wary, slightly bent, preparing to take cover behind the tree trunk in case the shooter became a threat to Ernest.

'Shooting? Not good. I have to get out before this shooter is come after me.' Ernest looked around, thinking which way to run. Ernest's eyes fell on the space between the two trees. There was a black figure there. The figure stood and looked right at Ernest. The shape of this figure did not resemble a human being.

'Gods, this thing is huge. Guess my escape can wait. I need to arm myself.' slowly, Ernest reached for the holster hanging on the belt.

Apparently, the 'huge hiding thing' understood Ernest's intentions, and jumped out of his hideout.

Now Ernest is faced with a giant creature resembling a mixture of wolf and man. For a moment, Ernest remembered an urban legend about werewolves, popular in Downfall a couple of decades before Ernest was born. The creature's body was covered with coal-black fur, and white spikes were sticking out of its back. The creature's head took strong resemblance with a wolf's skull. As Ernest noticed, the beast had no eyes, but red lights were burning in the empty eye sockets, which were clearly visible even in the morning. Red lines stretched from the creature's eyes to the back of its head, nose and cheekbones.

Werewolf rushed ahead, into battle. Ernest quickly snatched the gun from the holster, pointed it at his target and fired. The bullet hit the werewolf in the head. The skull cracked, monster wagged his head, but it didn't stop.  
«Damn it!» Ernest fired two more bullets, but missed. Running close enough, the werewolf jumped forward, hoping to claw its prey. Ernest rolled to the side, successfully avoiding the strike, then turned around and shot at the monster several times. All the bullets hit the werewolf in the body. It fell to the ground, then raised its head and howled loudly. Ernest aimed at the beast's head and fired. The second blow to the head fractured the bone, the werewolf's glowing eyes died, and he lowered his head.

'Is it dead?' Thought Ernest 'I'LL MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE!' He ran to the monster and stomp on its skull.

"Die, you fiend!" Ernest continued to stomp werewolf's head into the ground. Suddenly, the smoke rose from the monster's body. Ernest, who had his leg in the air and was about to strike again, lost his balance and then fell, but soon rose up and jumped away from the creature.

'What the hell!? What's happening to it !?' Now Ernest didn't dare approach the monster, so instead, he aimed a gun at its head, and he waited for what would happen next.

"What's going on? Where are the enemies?" Ernest heard a voice behind him.

Still not fully recovered from the stress of the battle with the werewolf, Ernest turned around and took the person to whom the voice belonged at gunpoint. In response, a man in a black jacket and blue pants aimed a rifle at Downfallian.

"Back off, you scum!" Ernest barked, not understanding who before him-friend or enemy. "Do not come any closer, or I swear to all the gods, I will blow your brains off!"

'Are you the shooter ?'thought Ernest. 'He has a rifle; he came from the side where the shots sounded from. It must be him. He came here to kill me! Or not? I need to calm down…'

"Hey, hey. Easy" The shooter said, putting his hands up. "I'm not your enemy"

Ernest watched the man in front of him for a second. Soon, his brain processed all the information and words he heard from a stranger. Ernest put down his weapon and took a deep breath. The man puts his hands down and hung his rifle on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry" Ernest said, putting the gun in the holster. «I don't know what came over me. I didn't want to frighten you." Downfallian puts his hand to his chest. "My name is Ernest. Ernest Div."

The man nodded. "Nice to meet you, Ernest. I'm Adam Monroe. I'm Huntsman."

'Adam the huntsman, huh?' Ernest thought, examining Adam from foot to head 'Dirty clothes, rifle on shoulder. Hey, what's that I see behind your back? Is it a sword handle? And what are you hunting, Adam? These black monsters?'

In mere seconds, Ernest came up with a simple plan that will help him get out of the forest

"I'm sorry, Master Monroe, you said you were a huntsman, right?" Adam nodded. "So you know the surrounding areas?"

Adam nodded again. "Yes, I do. Not like the back of my hand, of course, but I do. Why do you ask?"

"You see, Master Monroe, I'm a little lost in this forest. Can you help me get out of the woods? I don't have any money with me, but I..."

"Hold on." Adam interrupted Ernest. "Firstly, don't call me Master, please. Secondly, I can get you out of the forest, and for free. If you're not afraid of heights, we can fly on the bullhead. I called it for myself, of course, but I'm sure that there will be some empty seats for you."

«Really? Thank you, Mas-em... Adam. » Ernest said, adjusting his belt. «Lead me the bull's head, then»

'The bull's head or what he called it? I guess it's some sort of an aircraft. Either way, the name is stupid. Downfallian aircrafts had better names- aeroplanes, helicopters, or…'

"Not the bull's head, it's bullhead" Adam corrected Ernest, thus taking the last from the thoughts. "Come on, we have to go..." Adam did a full spin and pointed somewhere behind Ernest. "That way. Yeah. I guess..."

"Great. He doesn't even know where to go. It seems I was a little hasty, thinking that he could..."

Suddenly, Ernest and Adam heard a hum. Every second, the hum got louder and louder. In a few moments, the source of the sound revealed itself.

It turned out to be an aircraft, remotely resembling Downfallian helicopters, but instead of one propeller attached from the top, an airplane-like were attached to the sides of the cockpit, and on the edges of the wings there were some massive turbines or Something-Ernest was unable to identify this «organ» of the aircraft at first sight.

'Oh gods, what is this metal monster!?' Ernest exclaimed in his head. 'How does it even hold in the air?'

"Wow! They got here quickly" Adam noticed. "Come on, Ernest. Our private air taxi has arrived" The huntsman told to the stunned Downfallian.

'Well' Ernest thought 'The first part of my plan has been executed. Let's see what comes next.'

Ernest turned to see the beast he had killed. How Ernest was surprised when he didn't see the werewolf's body where he saw him last time. Ernest's eyes widened from a surprise.

'What the hell!? Where did it go?' Ernest examined the whole glade as closely as possible, but found no sign of the monster.

'Did I don't kill the werewolf and he escaped? But I shattered his skull…' Ernest scratched the back of his head. 'I'll deal with it later. Right now I must get to the city.' The Downfallian decided and went to the bullhead.

_ACT III_

_Same place_

_Same time_

Adam opened the bullhead's door and turned to Ernest.

"Please, your grace" Adam said to Ernest in curtsy. "Your carriage has arrived. We will arrive at the Beacon Castle in time" Adam tried his best not to have a smile on his face.

"Oh, thank you, Adam." Ernest bowed "What an honor you give me." He then climbed into the cockpit. Adam followed.

After climbing into the cockpit, Adam immediately went to the pilots and Ernest looked around.  
Even though it was big on the outside, the bullhead inside was pretty small. There were no seats in the cockpit, but instead there were straps hanging from somewhere above that you could hold onto during flight. The second part of the aircraft was driven by an iron door to the pilots. To sum up, there was nothing special inside the bullhead.

Adam knocked on the iron door, then grabbed the handle and pulled it.

"Hello, pilot brothers" Adam greeted.

"Hello Adam, how are you?" Ernest heard a falsetto, belonging to one of the pilots.

"Greetings, marksman" Said a bass voice.

Then Adam and the pilots started talking . Ernest looked out of the cockpit and for the last time examined the glade, trying to figure out where the dead (or not so dead) werewolf had gone. But, not finding anything remarkable, he returned into the cockpit and leaned his back against the wall, and he had two arms wrapped around the suitcase.

Finally, I'm leaving this damned forest.' Ernest thought, stroking the black and silver box.

"All right, sit here, do pilot things, and I'll go back, in the cockpit." Adam, who had been standing in the doorway, came out of it and grabbed the handle of the iron door with his right hand.

"Okay. Don't forget to close the door. Both of them" said a bass voice.

"Of course" Adam slammed the metal door shut and then went to the second door, which led from the bullhead and also closed it.  
"Attention, passengers" The voice above Adam and Ernest said "Preparing for takeoff. Hold onto something"

Ernest immediately grabbed the leather strap. The plane was trembling and there was a humming sound. Ernest looked out the window. The earth began to pull away. After a couple of moments, the aircraft has stopped shaking, and the humming has gone down a lot.

"Hey, captain, we are taking off. Speed is increasing." There was a voice again, this time a falsetto. Ernest lifted his head and saw a speaker hanging on a wall.

"Yes, same here." answered a bass voice. "Attention, passengers, we successfully took off. The temperature is 62 degrees, the speed of our ship is 120 miles an hour. We'll reach the Beacon in no time. We wish you a pleasant flight." The speaker then buzzed and shut off.

"Well, now all we have to do is wait" Adam said as he leaned his back against the wall.

Ernest nodded. "Adam. Can I ask you something?" The Downfallian asked.

"Sure, what is…" Suddenly, the ringing sound came from Adam's pocket.

Ernest recognized the sound. It was made by telephone machines in Downfall. The big landline phones with the Wheel Dialer started ringing when the call came in. Adam puts the hand into his pocket and pulled out a gray flat object with a yellow diamond-shaped button in the center of it.

Adam pressed the button, and the object opened, exposing the blue glass. Adam looked at the glass and whistled.

"Wow, the Big Boss himself decided to call me." said Adam, touching the glass with his finger, and then raising the object to the ear.

'Called?' Thought Ernest. 'So, this little flat... thing is used for calls? Impressive, so small, but works like our bulky phones. Even the wires are gone' Ernest was impressed by this object.

Meanwhile, Adam started talking.

"Adam Monroe here. Yeah, I got rid of them. For now, everything's calm. I just found a guy in the woods, and that's it. Yeah, he's all right. What? Right to you? Well, if he wants to, I won't drag him. Okay, I will." The last words alerted Ernest, but he didn't show up.

"So, Ernest, there's someone who wants to talk to you. Personally." Adam said, putting the gray object in his pocket.

"What is it? Who does he want from me?" Ernest asked, mixing the words and wrapping his hands around the briefcase, as if someone would take it from him

"Don't be scared, this guy won't bite you. His name is Ozpin, he's the headmaster of the Beacon Academy. That's the place we're flying to"

"What? Why a school principal would like to talk to me?" Adam's statement confused the Downfallian.

"Up-up-up" Adam waved his index finger "Firstly, he's not your typical principal, he is Ozpin of Beacon Academy, and also the official representative of the whole Kingdom of Vale." Adam noticed, pointing his finger upwards. It's not some average headmaster. And secondly, I have no idea. You can ask him personally about this."

"Okay. How long do we have to fly?" Asked Ernest

"Around fifteen minutes or so" Adam replied.

Ernest nodded and plunged into his thoughts.

'Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, wants to talk to me? Why would he want to talk to me? Here, I'm just a citizen-nothing special.'

Ernest scratched his head. 'I don't have time to talk to some principal. I have to come up with another plan to avoid this Ozpin guy…'

.

.

.

_To be continued…_


End file.
